I disengaged my shield, dropped my sword, and caught it with my left hand. The Queen didn’t notice, and a half-second later, two of her arms were gone and I was swinging by one ankle. She stopped chewing and tilted her head in confusion. From her lack of screeching, I guessed her limbs didn’t have nerve endings, but I wasn’t about to wait around while she noticed her missing limbs.
I lifted myself with my hips, removed her third arm at the wrist, and fell hard to the stone floor. She raised her last arm and curled her claw into a fist as if she was going to use it as a hammer, but she changed her mind when an energy bolt splashed against her face. Someone had gotten through her wing and was taking slow, aimed shots at her head.
More rifle fire pounded against her exoskeleton, and all she could do was try to shield herself from it. Her centipede-like feet scuttled backward as the Marine onslaught continued with relentless fury.
“Cease firing in two seconds,” I ordered over comms.
“Yes, Sir!” the response came, and I was glad to hear a mass of voices in response.
I charged as the Marines continued blasting the Queen with energy bolts, and the projectiles ceased just as I got within six feet of the target. I leaned back, fell to my knees, and skidded across the rock. I held my sword vertically as momentum carried me beneath her, and I split the Queen from bow to aft. She dropped like a warm sack of wet paper and covered me in bug ichor.
I laughed because there was nothing else I could do. I laughed harder when I thought about the jokes I’d hear later about being the first human to be inside a Xeno Queen like this. They were going to give me hell.
A few seconds later, the simulation ended, and I rose to my feet. The alien goo and viscera had vanished, and the Marines who’d died were standing among the victors.
All eyes were on me, and their laughter filtered through my helmet. I couldn’t help but grin at them after a battle well-fought.
Reaver stepped forward and patted me on the shoulder. “That was a mighty fine job, Sir. Makes me kind of jealous, too.”
“Jealous?” I asked.
“Yes, Sir. You were deep inside a nasty bug Queen before you were inside of me. I’m not sure how I could compete with that.”
I had to wonder if she heard my jaw hit the inside of my helmet. She walked away with her hips swinging as she returned to her fellow troops. They either hugged her or delivered playful shoulder-punches. She’d be a hero for a long time.
“Job’s done, Marines,” I said.
The door to the 300-foot-square room slid open to let the Marines out. The two hundred camera-like hologram and force field generators reconfigured themselves by receding back into the gray walls.
The armor plating on the walls was scarred from the hundreds, probably thousands, of impacts Marines had made against it over the years. Though most of our weapons were simulated by the projectors, our swords were not. The Marines felt that the sword, above all else, must become an extension of the person’s own body and mind. It was an up-close, personal weapon, and the only way to learn to respect it was to use it. Rifles were great for softening the enemy, but more often than not, it took a blade to finish the job.
As I turned and started walking toward the exit, Joker spoke to me over a private communications channel.
“That was really nice work, Sir. Really outstanding stuff.”
I’d been half-expecting a joke at my expense after the unfortunate way the Queen’s corpse had ended up, but it was clear he didn’t want to provoke me. He probably felt like a failure for asking me to assist when the Queen showed up.
I waited for him to come alongside me before I continued walking. “Thanks, Sergeant. But I wasn’t the only one out there.” I looked at him from the corner of my eye and saw his lips upturn a little. “Your squad responded to the exercise like they were born to it. You’ve done well in developing their teamwork and instinct. It’s pretty amazing what can happen with the right tools and training, isn’t it?”
I didn’t want to mention his failed plan; it was already clear that he’d learned his lesson. There was a time and place for correction, and the simulated battlefield had done more than I could ever do by grilling him now.
“Absolutely, Sir. Oorah!”
“Oorah, Marine,” I said. He stopped and waited for the rest of his squadmates, who all seemed to be in good spirits. It was a good fight against overwhelming odds. We’d lost six Marines in the sim, but it was all part of the job. One thing the squad was good at was learning from their mistakes and growing as a team.
When I’d received the squad three months ago, they couldn’t even have breakfast together without fighting over where to sit. Now, they were a cohesive, dangerous fighting team, and the Federation and her people were better for it.
Hell, the simulation exercise almost made me crave the battlefield again. Would I ever get another chance to spill a real Xeno’s guts with a vibro-blade? Or pop a skull with a combat rifle’s energy bolts?
I almost wondered whether I should offer a prayer to Joker’s gods, but I shook my head of the silly thought and walked through the hatchway.
Chapter Three
A man of 60 in a perfectly pressed green uniform with silver icons on his epaulets stepped out of the stairwell to the observation room beside me. I immediately removed my helmet and snapped to attention.
“Good afternoon, Sir,” I said.
“Good afternoon,” Colonel Goswin replied.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a slight smile on his face. He wasn’t a man
